The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) implemented selected components of its statewide accountability system in accordance with Mississippi’s approved State plan and any approved amendments. Our audit covered MDE’s processes for implementing selected components of Mississippi’s statewide accountability system based on accountability data for school years 2017–2018, 2018–2019, and 2021–2022. The selected components were (1) establishment of long-term goals for improved academic achievement, (2) indicators used to measure student academic achievement and school success, (3) annual meaningful differentiation, and (4) identification of low-performing schools and schools with low-performing student subgroups. Our audit also covered the funding and support services that MDE provided to LEAs with schools identified in the fall of 2022 as needing comprehensive support and improvement (CSI), targeted support and improvement (TSI), and additional targeted support and improvement (ATSI). We found that MDE generally implemented the long-term goals, indicators, annual meaningful differentiation, and identification of low-performing schools’ components of its statewide accountability system in accordance with Mississippi’s approved State plan and amendment. However, its implementation of several aspects of the accountability system deviated from the plan. In several cases, the changes warranted the Department’s review and approval; however, MDE implemented the changes without (1) submitting amendments to the Department or (2) waiting for the Department to approve the amendments. In addition, found that MDE did not always calculate indicator scores, perform annual meaningful differentiation, and identify schools for CSI in accordance with Mississippi’s approved State plan and amendment. We also determined that MDE provided funding and additional support to all 236 Mississippi public schools that it identified in the fall of 2022 as needing additional support based on accountability data for school years 2017–2018, 2018–2019, and 2021–2022. Lastly, as noted in the “Other Matters” section of our report, MDE did not take corrective actions that were responsive to the Mississippi Office of the State Auditor’s recommendations for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of graduation rate data used in Mississippi’s statewide accountability system.
Open Recommendations
Recommendation Number | Significant Recommendation | Recommended Questioned Costs | Recommended Funds for Better Use | Additional Details | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2.1 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education require MDE to update its policiesand procedures to reflect that all changes to Mississippi’s approved State plan should be submitted to the Departmentand approved by the Department before implementing changes to the accountability system. | |||||
2.2 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education require MDE to provide CSI to thefour public schools that should have been identified for CSI in the fall of 2022. | |||||
2.3 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education require MDE to submit anamendment explaining that it will apply double weighting to the numerator for students who took and passed certainaccelerated courses and describing how it will calculate the college and career readiness indicator score if a studenttakes both the assessment designed to measure skills that are important for success in postsecondary education andthe assessment designed to measure foundational skills required for success in the workplace. | |||||
2.4 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education require MDE to provide records tothe Department showing that it corrected the coding in the MSIS to ensure that the system uses unadjusted compositescores to identify nontraditional public high schools for CSI. | |||||
2.5 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education require MDE to provide records tothe Department showing that it ensured that all Title I, Part A-funded schools with 3 years of accountability data areincluded on the list that MDE uses for identifying public schools that are eligible for CSI. |